1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a display device which has a thin thickness and the enhanced aesthetic appearance.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Various display devices, which substitute for CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) manufactured in an early stage of display device, have been researched and studied, for example, liquid crystal display device, plasma display panel, organic light emitting display device, and etc.
These display devices enable to achieve large size by decreasing weight and volume. Also, these display devices have been highly developed in various aspects such as response speed and picture quality through the continuous study.
In addition to the research and development in technical aspects, design aspects of a product that can appeal to consumers have been actively researched and studied. For example, efforts to minimize a thickness of a display device have been made, and a design enabling the good exterior appearance has been developed to expedite purchase of consumers by appealing to aesthetic sense of the consumers.
However, the related art display device obtained up to now has limitation in minimization of thickness and improvement of aesthetic appearance due to its structural properties. Hereinafter, limitation of the related art display device will be described in detail.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of the related art display device.
As shown in FIG. 1, the related art display device includes a display panel 10, a panel driver 20, and a case 30.
The display panel 10 includes a lower substrate 12 and an upper substrate 14.
On the lower substrate 12, there are gate and data lines crossing each other to define a pixel region. At a crossing portion of the gate and data lines, there is a thin film transistor. Also, a pixel electrode connected with the thin film transistor is formed in the pixel region.
The upper substrate 14 is formed on the lower substrate 12. In this case, an one peripheral region of the lower substrate 12 has to be exposed to the external so as to apply a signal to the gate and data lines on the lower substrate 12, whereby the upper substrate 14 is not formed on one peripheral region of the lower substrate 12.
The panel driver 20 is formed in one peripheral region of the lower substrate 12 exposed to the external, to thereby transmit the signal to the gate and data lines.
The case 30 covers peripheral regions of the display panel 10. As mentioned above, since the panel driver 20 is formed in one peripheral region of the lower substrate 12, it is necessary to prevent the panel driver 20 from being exposed to the external. For this, the case 30 is applied thereto.
Accordingly, the case 30 covers the peripheral regions of the display panel 10 so as to prevent the panel driver 20 from being exposed to the external. Due to the structural properties, the case 30 is formed above the upper substrate 14, which causes the following problems.
First, the case 30 is formed above the upper substrate 14, whereby a thickness of the display device is increased.
Also, the case 30 protruding more than the upper substrate 14 causes a height difference on a front surface of the display device, thereby deteriorating the aesthetic appearance of the display device.
Since the case 30 is provided to prevent the exposure of panel driver 20, the case 30 is increased in width, whereby a bezel width of the display device is also increased, thereby causing the deteriorated aesthetic appearance of the display device.